Council Member Reid seeks city aid for ‘deeply unhoused’ people

Eighth Ward Council Member Devon Reid hopes to bring an ambitious – and expensive – plan to the City Council’s Human Services Committee this month in an effort to help close to three dozen people he called “deeply unhoused” with wraparound housing, mental health and substance use services.

The price tag?

“I estimate nothing less than half a million dollars,” Reid said Aug. 3, in part because “We don’t have a program to deal with this level of care and need.” 

Reid told people two days earlier at an Aug. 1 ward meeting, “It’s gonna be a tough lift, because it costs quite a bit of money to both find stable housing for folks for the long term and to provide substance abuse treatment as well as mental health services. This is going to be a big ask of the council.”

He urged people who care about the issue to attend the Human Services Committee meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21, in council chambers. 

On Aug. 3, Reid estimated that of the roughly 30 people whom he called “deeply unhoused” up to 15 have been living on the sidewalk just north of Howard Street, under the CTA station viaduct. The rest are scattered at any given time at locations across Evanston and even into Rogers Park, he said. 

After visiting the viaduct and the area on Paulina north of Howard Street last month with Evanston Health and Human Services Director Ike Ogbo, Reid said the department provided some cleaning materials to some of the sidewalk denizens.

He learned of the situation after receiving an emailed complaint, he said. At least one issue that caught him and other Evanston officials off guard was that a section of the neighborhood adjacent to the Howard Street viaduct does not belong to Chicago.; it is part of Evanston.

It came as a surprise to him, to former 8th Ward Council Member Ann Rainey and to Evanston’s police department, Reid told listeners Aug. 1.

International waters

“So this small section right under the Howard viaduct was kind of like international waters, so Chicago police would drive by and say, ‘Well, that’s Evanston’s problem, and Evanston police would drive by and say, ‘That’s Chicago’s problem,’” he said.

According to Clarissa Steinbrecher, constituent services and communications coordinator for Chicago 49th Ward Ald. Maria Hadden, Hadden’s economic development manager made the discovery and contacted Reid’s office. 

Reid set up a July 24 meeting with multiple agencies, including representatives from Evanston’s Police, Health and Human Services, and Economic Development departments; nonprofits Connections for the Homeless and Peer Services; and officials from Chicago’s 49th Ward and Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services. 

Nia Tavoularis, chief of development for Connections for the Homeless, said Aug. 4 that representatives of the organization will attend the Aug. 21 Human Services Committee session. 

“What we took from the [July 24] meeting is obviously a deep concern for these people under the viaduct, and in truth for a lot of people,” Tavoularis said. “As rental rates continue to rise, and as we see people losing benefits, losing Medicaid and SNAP benefits, we’ve really got to prepare ourselves, because lack of housing is going to be a continuing crisis.”

The problem isn’t a lack of programs, she said, adding that Connections already provides as much shelter help as it can, and provides additional wraparound services for clients, including medical and mental health support, but without more available shelter and affordable housing the job becomes harder.

Long wait list

Its own waitlist for shelter contains 80 people, Tavoularis said. In suburban Cook County, where Connections works with a network of groups providing shelter, the wait list is at 200. Wait lists in Chicago have reached 800, she said. 

Tavoularis said educating the public about the challenges is tremendously important: “We need people to know that we and groups like us are there and doing the job, but doing it quietly. We want them to know that we could offer more immediate help if there was more affordable housing.”

Steinbrecher said the patchwork of Evanston, Chicago and CTA jurisdiction represented challenges in responding to the situation. Chicago cannot directly try to help those who are living under the viaduct, because that property belongs to the CTA, she said.

“If they are on the public way north of the viaduct that was Evanston,” Steinbrecher said. “However, if they are under the viaduct, they’re under the CTA. That’s CTA property.

“It’s hard to step in as Chicago, but at the meeting, our department of Family Support [and] Services made it clear to the representatives of the CTA that if they reach out to the department for help, [the department] can do some outreach.”

Steinbrecher said that security is a primary concern for 49th Ward officials. Hadden is working with contacts at the transit authority to address that issue, including having CTA security regularly check on those living under the viaduct.

She said 49th Ward officials would be open to attending another meeting, but nothing has been scheduled. 

For his part, Reid acknowledged the challenge of navigating multiple jurisdictions, but said he looked at it as an opportunity to work together to address the issues and needs facing people who lack homes. 

Some of the people Reid hopes to help in the short and long term include Tony Danyal, Allen Lee and Jermaine Hudson, all of whom were living under the viaduct.

On Aug. 3, as he swept the sidewalk under the viaduct, Danyal figured he’d been without a real place to stay for a year and had called the sidewalk home off and on for half a year. Lee, who was picking up garbage, couldn’t be precise about how long he’d been there. Nor could Hudson.

“I don’t want to live in some tent,” Danyal said.

He said he had a part-time job and thought he might be able to afford a studio, “if it’s about $400 to $500 a month. But places around here, they’re $1,300 a month. I can’t afford that.”

If Evanston or Chicago could help him, he’d be willing to accept the help, he said.